NHL Hockey: Wednesday, October 4, 2017 at 10:00 pm (Rogers Place)

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The Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames meet up in the first Battle of Alberta of the season as these two bitter rivals square off on opening night.

The Calgary Flames look to start the regular season on a winning note as they invade Rogers Place to square off against their archrivals on opening night in what should be an incredibly exciting, high intensity contest. The Flames made the playoffs a season ago but it was short lived as they were swept out by the Anaheim Ducks in the opening round but with some key additions including Mike Smith, and Travis Hamonic and another offseason from the likes of Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, and Sam Bennett making this a very dangerous group that should have no issue getting back to the postseason this year. The Flames are in tough to start the season though as they’re not only matching up in hostile territory, but the Oilers are considered to be Cup contenders in most circles and on opening night you can be sure they will be fired up and gearing for a big time victory.

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The Oilers meanwhile have as much hype around them this season as they have had in any year since the late 1980’s and with the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl locked up long term I think this team can bank on a deep playoff run this season. Edmonton will be without Andrej Sekera for the foreseeable future but they do have a ton of depth on the back end that flies under the radar and if guys like Oscar Klefbom, and Darnell Nurse can take another step forward they should be a very tough team to beat this season. The offense gets a ton of headlines but this group was very dependent on the solid goaltending from Cam Talbot last season and he was among the league’s best and if he can replicate that success this team should be in the mix for the President’s Trophy.

The Flames are winless in their last five against the Pacific and 1-4 in their last five road games while the Oilers are 12-3 in their last 15 home games and 1-4 in their last five overall. This is going to be an exciting contest and while Calgary to me is a team that can challenge for a division crown I don’t see it happening over night or in this spot.

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